Very tight housing in Osaka

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]

Thousands in Japan claim same address
[url="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/12555.html]earthtimes.org, Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:48:01 GMT
OSAKA, Japan---[/url]Japanese authorities are trying to figure out how 3,300 people could all claim a 500-square-foot [color="Sienna"][46.45 square meter] [/color]lot in Osaka as their legal residence.
The lot, located in a residential area of the city, has a five-story building on it that contains a day laborer support office[url="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/12555.html]...[/url]

[INDENT]

Let's do the math.
Ignoring the space needed for walls, elevators, etc...
5 floors of 500 square feet comes
to a total 2,500 square feet
for 3,300 people
= 1.32 people per square foot
<OR>
= 14.2 people per square meter

[/INDENT]

[Taro Toporific]

Of course the-rest-of-the-story is that Osaka homeless people just used this address to get their residents' card which they need to applying for a job or to collect from the national pension system that they paid into for 40 years.

The homeless people and day laborers are constantly harassed for "you have no address" and "you have no residential card" which prevents them from applying for a real jobs or receiving any social benefits.